Veikko Björk
The Horizon
16.10.-8.11.2020
A dented plastic bottle, half-full of water, was washed ashore. I held the bottle at eye level and looked at the horizon through its dented surface. When the water surface inside the bottle was level with the horizon, it felt as if I was holding a small piece of the horizon in my hands, a piece that had come from somewhere far away.
I began to collect plastic trash washed ashore and fixed it to the wall of my studio in the shape of a spiral. During the summer, the entire wall filled with plastic trash. I thought about the enormous plastic trash vortexes in the oceans. Faded by the sea, yet colorful, the pieces of plastic were beautiful. I felt like a daydreamer.
Concern about the environment causes anxiety. Bumblebees are dying in a strange way, willow tits cannot find decayed trees where they could excavate a nesting hole. Forests are tree plantations. Fish have their stomachs full of plastic.
I carved a man-sized bumblebee from wood and placed it on the floor of my studio. I carved a poor man statue but replaced its head with dead wood where a willow tit could build a nest. The man carries his head in his hand. I filmed a video in which I wander in forests like a willow tit looking for a nesting tree.
There is a white trail in the horizon produced by a jet plane. There are now fewer trails in the sky. Covid-19 has reduced traveling. The economic growth curves are falling.
The Horizon is an installation at Galleria Huuto.
The sound of young birds peeping comes from the dead wood head of the poor man.
veikko.bjork(a)gmail.com
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